Okanagan hockey fraudster sentenced

A man who stole money from a hockey association and the parents of bantam-age hockey players has been sentenced to one year in jail, but was set free the day of his sentencing because he’d already served the time.

Loren Reagan and his former business partner Michael Gordon Elphicke created the Okanagan Elite Hockey Association in Penticton, B.C., in 2010 with the intent of sending hockey players and their parents on a tour of Europe.

The court heard Monday that families paid $5,500 per traveller for the European tour, minus the amounts they raised by selling raffle tickets for meat draws, which were operated without the required gaming licence.

Court heard the hockey association collected $130,000 in trip deposits and raffle proceeds between July 2011 and January 2012, but only $15,000 of that money went toward the European hockey tour.

“This was not a scheme that was devised from the outset to bilk the complainants of their money,” he said.

The reason the trip never happened was because Reagan and Elphicke were not good businessmen, said Russell.

Reagan was also involved in a plan to build a dormitory for hockey academy students in Penticton.

“That’s where a large part of the theft arises, is the use of funds from the (hockey association) towards the dorm project for permits and various expenses related to that,” said Russell. “And that was unbeknownst to the parents.”

The dorm project consumed $40,000 of the money paid and raised by parents, while $20,000 was used by Elphicke for personal use, and $30,000 to $40,000 for Reagan’s personal use.